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Limbo
Limbo was the first Circle of Hell. It is the residence of the Virtuous Pagans and Unbaptized Souls. Prior to guiding Dante, Limbo was also the residence of Virgil's spirit. Overview Limbo was the first circle of the Inferno proper. Limbo was on the outer boundary of Hell, just across the River Acheron. Here remained those who were not sinful in life, but did not acquire the proper portal of faith (baptism). As such, they are punished only by being exiled from God's presence forever. After entering the pretty gates of Hell, Dante arrived at Limbo after boarding Charon and taking control of a Asterian Beast. Limbo is shown to be a dark, foreboding place of grand buildings and structures. Statues of virtuous non-Christians are seen throughout the Circle, in honor of those righteous people. On the opposite side of the Citadel of Limbo, near the end of the circle was the serpentine fallen King Minos, the Judge of the Damned. Dante managed to sentence the judge by placing Minos' tongue on a torture device and spanned the wheel around to split his face in half, continuing into Lust. Trivia * The term "Limbo" derives from the Latin term "limbus" which translates to "edge" or "boundary". It is believed to be the outermost region of Hell, into which were placed condemned souls who were not sinful but lacked the proper faith to enter Paradise, or those who never received baptism. However, this concept of Limbo is not officially taught by the Catholic Church. Rather, it reflects Dante's belief of hell and everyone that is supposed to dwell there. * In The Divine Comedy it is elaborated that due to these souls being otherwise innocent or righteous, the only punishment they have to undergo is never being able to be in the presence of God. They are otherwise treated with honor and have their own version of a peaceful resting place (albeit inferior compared with Heaven). Children who have died before they had a chance to be christened are also found here (though they are not demonized as in the game). By this reasoning the sin of never having the chance to believe in God is considered the lightest of all sins in Dante's view, and deserves the least of penalties. * In the original Divine Comedy, the host spirit of this circle, Pontius Pilate, is not found in Limbo but in the Vestibule of Hell, for standing aside while Jesus Christ was crucified by order of the Sanhedrin. Those in the Vestibule were punished for never choosing sides by manifestations of their own guilty conscience. * In "Inferno", Dante found poets Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, the Amazon queen Penthesilea, the mathematician Euclid, the philosophers Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle, Julius Caesar, Electra, Camilla, Latinus, Lucius Junius Brutus, Lucretia, Orpheus, and Saladin. Virgil mentioned to Dante that Noah, Moses, David, Abraham and Thomas the Apostle were in Limbo until Jesus arrived in Limbo and brought them to Heaven (referred to as the Harrowing of Hell.) 1 Category:Limbo Category:Locations